Not that anyone was getting the least bit worried but the Boston Bruins stabilized themselves this afternoon with a solid 4-1 road win against the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center.
After losing their last two games and only scoring one goal combined, including 2-1 yesterday at home to the Penguins, the B's (33-16-2) played like a much more confident bunch in our nation's capital. Keep in mind, the Capitals (27-21-4) had beaten them 5-3 in the final game before the All-Star break on Jan. 24.
Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (35 saves, 22-10-0) had his best game in weeks while four different players scored for Boston. That's usually the recipe for success isn't it? Plus, the defense appeared comfortable with the lead on the road which hasn't always been the case lately.
Milan Lucic (19th of the season) and Brad Marchand (19th of the season) gave Boston an early 2-0 lead with goals in the first period. Looch made a nice backhand move on Tomas Vokoun (26 saves), assisted by Rich Peverley. Marchand was in the right place-in front of Vokoun-as his the goaltender couldn't handle what should have been an easy stop on a redirect. Patrice Bergeron and Adam McQuaid assisted on Marchand's goal.
McQuaid and Matt Hendricks fought late in the second period but Washington could never really get anything going.
Tyler Seguin made it 3-0 at 6:38 with a deflection past Vokoun. Marchand and Bergeron assisted on Seguin's 20th of the season. It was a high water mark for the second-year stud, gee do you think he'll reach even higher plateaus? Claude Julien moved his lines around but let the record show that Seguin, Marchand and Bergeron is the only one he didn't tinker with. What does that tell you?
Marcus Johansson cut it to 3-1 at 12:04 as he parked by Boston's net and put in the easy feed. Thomas' shutout bid was spoiled but he made the lead stand up as the made a couple great saves to keep Washington behind by two.
Peverley (9th of the season) added an empty-netter with 41 seconds remaining.
After a very busy stretch, Boston gets some rest since they only have two games next week: at Buffalo on Wednesday and then hosting Nashville on Saturday afternoon. The Sabres are at the bottom of the Northeast Division and they're one of the NHL's worst teams. With a 2-0 series advantage so far this season, there's no reason not to expect more Bruins wins against poor Lindy Ruff's boys.
Go Patriots!
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